This Stage Two development completes the original vision for Amesbury School, sitting at the heart of its proudly multi-cultural community.
It is always rewarding to reconnect with a client and to work together to fulfill their evolving design aspirations. Our original award-winning design for Amesbury School as a new build was completed in 2011. In response to the pressures of a rapidly growing local population, we were commissioned to update our earlier masterplan to create additional learning spaces. This was an exciting opportunity to work with the school again, building on our existing relationship and working with them to complete their vision of the school as a community centerpiece.
Our design solution is a two-storey central hub building incorporating nine new learning spaces. Creating strong connections between the levels and to outdoors was essential. This was realised with the ‘social stair’: a generously-sized staircase that doubles as a seating area and an informal learning space.
We integrated the school’s evolving educational philosophies into the design. The new hub is envisioned as the ‘Amesbury Marae’ - a welcoming space where pōwhiri or mihi whakatau and other significant cultural events could take place. We also addressed the needs of students with different learning modalities, or requiring quiet spaces, with areas of high acoustic performance - the under-stair ‘cave’, the inset ‘seating nook’ and ‘the nest’ a dedicated sensory-calming room.
The school as a safe environment supporting both student and community wellbeing was an important concept. As one of the few flat areas in this hilly suburb, the school has enhanced its grounds to support the wider community, with features like the wetlands, a second adventure playground and a bike track. There is also a marked absence of fences separating the school from the community.
This project illustrates the rewards of a long-term client-architect relationship and continuity of a shared vision can deliver.
